Envelope opening means



P. ADAMs 1 930 299 ENVELOPE OPENING MEANS Filed April 50, 1952 PatentedOct. 10, 1933 ENVELOPE OPENING MEANS Philip Adams, North Bay, Ontario,Canada, as-

signor to Bertha Adams, North Bay, Ontario,

Canada Application April 30, 1932. Serial No. 608,553

1 Claim.

My invention relates to improvements in envelope opening means and theobject of the invention is to devise means for enabling the slittingopen of one edge of an envelope by means of 5 a thread or stringthreaded back and forth through perforations in the envelope edge to beslit.

A further object is to provide an improved means for preventing thethread or string being pulled out of the perforations without slittingthe envelope.

A still further object is to incorporate an improved means for startingthe slitting operation, and yet another object is to provide means forretaining one end of the thread or string in the envelope after theremaining portion of the thread has slit the envelope edge.

With the above and other objects in view which will hereinafter appearmy envelope opening means, in its preferred embodiment, consists of theconstruction all as hereinafter described and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 represents a plan view of an envelope :5 constructed according tomy invention showing the same opened out.

Fig. 2 is a similar view to Fig. 1 showing the side and bottom flaps ofthe envelope inturned and with the sealing flap open and,

Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 showing the top flap inturned intothe position in which the envelope is sealed.

Like characters indicate corresponding parts in the different views.

While my envelope opening means is adaptable to envelopes of orthodoxform I preferably make some slight alterations in the construction toimprove the actuating of my device.

As illustrated the envelope consistsof a main portion 1, the side flaps2, the bottom flap 3 and the sealing flap 4 all of course formedintegrally with the main portion 1.

I preferably provide portions 5 joining the top edges of the side flaps2 and the side edges of the sealing flap 4 andformed integrallytherewith.

I also extend out the inclined edge of the side flaps 2 and the inclinededges of the bottom flap 3 so that instead of such edges intersectingeach other at substantially the bottom corners of the main portion 1they meet each other exteriorly thereof, thereby constituting theportions 6 which are formed integrally with the remaining portions ofthe envelope.

' In the construction as illustrated in which an end edge of theenvelope is to be slit I provide a thread 7 woven in and out. from topto bottom of such edge and extending through the perforations 8 therein,said thread also extending upwardly to the upper end of the junctionline between the particular portion 5 and the flap 4 as well asdownwardly to the bottom end of the junction line between the particularportions 6 and the flap 3. In order to prevent the thread or stringpulling out of the perforations during the slitting operation withoutslitting the envelope I provide one or even more zig-zags in the line ofperforations so that the thread following these perforations is offsetfrom a straight line and thus is held against displacement.

A simple means of providing the thread in the edge of the envelope isstitching it in by means of the ordinary sewing machine.

The zig-zag 9 is preferably provided in the portions 6 so that when theenvelope is formed up the thread or string will in addition to thezig-zag be turned back on itself thus aiding in the prevention of itsdisplacement.

In the flap 4 in the vicinity of the junction line with the portion 5 Iprovide an orifice 10 preferably of D-shape and in the portion 5 Iprovide a similar orifice opposedly disposed so that when the portion 5is unfolded on to the flap 4 the orifice 11 will register with theorifice 10.

To form the envelope the side and bottom flaps are infolded and gummedin the orthodox manner and it will be seen that when this is done theflaps 5 will be initially infolded on to the flap 4 and the portions 6will be initially infolded on to the flap 3, the portions 6 engaging theflap 2 when the flap 3 is inturned thereupon.

When the sealingflap 4 is turned down to seal the envelope the portions5 are turned down with the flap 4 against the side flap 2 and theregistering orifices 10 and 11 will be exposed with the orifice 10outside.

The thickness of the paper of the portion 5 and the flap 4 is sufiicientto afford a finger nail grip upon the straight walls of the orifices 10and 11 and the desire to slit the edge of the envelope merely exerts apull on these walls with 100 the result that the paper is torn and thestring caused to be pulled out diagonally with the,result that theenvelope is slit along its entire edge, the zig-zag and the turning upof the end of the thread or string preventing the same being removedaltogether from the envelope.

As will be seen from the above description very little, if any, changeis necessary in the form of the envelope to accommodate itself to myenvelope opening means and moreover the incor- 1 porating of such meansis also a very simple matter as it is only necessary to provide a sheetof paper with a line of stitched thread suitably located thereon andzig-zagged periodically and then out the envelope blanks from suchsheet. Thus an envelope provided with my envelope opening means will beexceedingly simply and inexpensive to manufacture.

If desired, the portion 5 with the orifice 11 therein could beabbreviated to dispense with the orifice and only constitute a lipextending laterally from the junction line with the flap 4 which, whenintumed in sealing down the flap 4, would form a projection with itsfree edge coinciding with the straight wall of the orifice 10. Likewisethe other portion 5 as well as the portions 6 could be done away with,the zig-zag-9 in such case extending the reverse way into the flap 3.

What I claim as my invention is:-

In combination, an envelope having integrally formed main portion, sideand end flaps and integrally formed web portions extending between eachside flap and each end flap, and a thread or string woven back and forththrough a line 01 perforations in the envelope edge to be slit, one endflap having an orifice therethrough in the vicinity of the envelope edgeto be slit adapted to register with an orifice in the web portionextending between such end flap and the adiacent side flap upon the webportion being infolded.

PHILIP ADAMS.

